Exploring Myst’s Brave New World

PLAY

Cyan Worlds, Inc.

Rand and Robyn Miller changed the way people play computer games. When the enigmatic Myst arrived a decade ago, competition gave way to curiosity, and millions booted up to explore lush forests, ancient cities, and mysterious ports. Now, following the hit sequel Riven and Real Myst, a real-time version of the original, Rand and the rest of his team at Cyan are at it again with Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. The 3-D game taps into the Net's virtual community and turns Miller's trademark environments into persistent worlds. Players can venture in alone or meet up with friends online to solve puzzles, play chess, and go on scavenger hunts, communicating in real time via instant messaging or voice over IP. Uru debuts at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May before hitting shelves later this year. Rand took Wired on an exclusive tour of his mystifying new world.

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WIRED: How did the project get started?RAND MILLER: Most games are like sports. Myst, Riven, and Uru are story-driven. You're always wondering what you're going to see next. Well, what if every night there was something new?

Don't other massively multiplayer online games offer something new every night?
We don't consider this a massively multiplayer online game. I've played a lot of Dark Age of Camelot and it's loads of fun, but long-run games like that aren't sustainable. At some point you realize that you're doing the same things over and over. We wanted to create new places continuously and then add gameplay to them. We wanted to give players the option – not given in MMOGs – to either interact with others or explore alone.

From a development perspective, how does Uru go beyond Myst and Riven?
We wanted a true persistent world. If you walk into a room, turn on a light, and then leave, when someone else comes along three days later that light should still be on. There are a lot of games that clean up after themselves. If you open a door, it closes itself. If you kill a monster, it eventually disappears. That's not what we wanted. We also wanted a real physics engine. If you kick a ball, how far will the ball roll, and where will it stop? In a 3-D environment, that's been really difficult to do.

Did you draw from real-life locations when designing Uru's look?
I recently took my daughters to Glacier National Park. There's a cozy feeling when the fog rolls in, or when you're in the forest, surrounded. We tried to get that essence into the game.

Do you think Uru will attract a whole new crop of fans with different ideas about gaming?
We don't want people playing this game 40 hours a week. We don't want people to become obsessed with it. We want them to say, "I wonder what's going to happen tonight?" So we're scheduling events. You can also take pictures of where you are and send the images to friends in the game.

How interactive will Uru be?
There's a fine line between making an interactive environment and making everything within it interactive. After Myst we got a lot of mail from people complaining about the red herrings. For instance, there's a bird that you can get to sing, but to no end. Not everything is meaningful.

The other games had definite endings. Will there be one to Uru?
Yes. We haven't decided what yet, but there will be a conclusion to the story, a payoff.